Tech giant EDS announces top-level shake-up

IT services giant EDS has announced a boardroom shake-up which will see Robert H Swan, a former executive at defence contractor TRW, will become its chief financial officer.

From 10 February Swan will replace Jim Daley, who will transfer to the post of executive vice president of client solutions, global sales and marketing. Daley will oversee EDS' client care organisations, replacing Chuck Griffith, who is leaving the company.

Daley, 61, has served as CFO of EDS since March 1999.

The management shake-up comes amid a rough patch for EDS. Shares of the company took a nosedive in the second half of 2002 after the company announced third-quarter earnings guidance well below expectations. EDS' third-quarter results included write-downs associated with the US Airways and WorldCom bankruptcies. The company also announced that its fourth-quarter earnings would fall by five cents per share because of aircraft lease deals with United Airlines, whose parent UAL filed for bankruptcy.

In October, EDS said it was the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

EDS is one of the largest information technology services companies in the world, with revenue of $21.5bn in 2001.

Ed Frauenheim writes for News.com